Re: Hint #2:
 

I like how in this hint he indicates that there could be plural feild "component(s)", but he used the word "is" instead of are or is/are!:rolleyes: :D

Maybe the game is sort of like last years with the field being one or two huge slopes that robots have to move themselves or something else around on into different zones. So the field itself would be the one big ramp component.

I was expecting a game similar to the one being played on the EDURobot Powerup Video. A square field, 2 on 2, alliance partners starting at opposite ends of the field with a large square barrier in the center (the barrier, a pillar in the Powerup video, might also be used for some type of special scoring goal like the larger balls in 2001). The object seemed to be to get the soccer balls (in place of the golf balls in the video) into your alliance's scoring zone by the buzzer. Seeing how the scoring zone was only demarked by tape, part of the team's strategy will need to be to hold the balls in place so that they do not roll away or so they can't be taken away by the opponent. The game would require most everyone to be a ball handler and would make strategy a real challenge.

Re: Re: Hint #2:
 

----------------------------------------

"DaBruteForceGuy, YOU are good!"

All you guys are just TOO good at investigations.
It is too difficult to keep all of you guessing!

(This is really, really tje LAST comment I can make on this topic)

:D :p:D

I do not think it will be an obstacle course, I think it will take more of a 2v2 effect, where teams are actually trying something against eachother. I think this would make it easier to score, and television friendly. An obstacle course, especially one with 10 different obstacles, each with different point amounts, and variations(possibly a little exaggerated) would confuse most audiences who know little about robotics, and some who know a lot about the competitions. FIRST seems to want things clean, and simple for viewing, and this seems like the best solution to me.

maybe there is a button at the top of a giant upside down cone which encompasses the entire field, which, when pressed, will release a ball from the sky, right on top of the button. the goal would be to get as many balls into your side of the cone before the clock strikes 2:00.

hows that for speculation

dabruteforceguy, this was established before that.

Hint 1 labeled it as a non-pluralized component, as later did hint 3.

i still think my picture may be close =)

I know that! DURRRR, lol. I just wanted to point out just how hard Rich has been trying not to give away too much info.

If this guy Rich is part of FIRST then why is he dropping all these hints? I would think that if he is aware of the game he would be held to some level of secrecy. Using these hints, if people assume correctly, could lead to teams getting a huge jump on the rest of the field. If they are false, could cause a team to waste a huge amount of time chasing a red herring. Either way I find that someone with official FIRST status should show some more restraint. I always view the information here with a bit of skepticism, but I wonder how many people are taking this information to heart?

Not to speak for Rich, but, he's involved with the NYC Regional. . . and I don't know to what greater extent. So, while I don't know that he's on FIRST's payroll, he does hold a unique, administrative sort of position.

If team's want to make assumptions about what he's said and run with them, that is their responsibility - not Rich's. If they want to hold back and wait, they can do that too.

Everyone is getting excited to see what we'll have to do this season. Rich is just sitting back and enjoying himself a bit, too.

There's nothing wrong with that, as best as I can tell.

the hints he has given say nothing of what to build on. Zero measurements have been given and no strategy can be formed by what's been said.

"The field component doesn't move" means nothing, what does move (besides the bots)?


There is no head start or jump that any team could make based solely on Rich's comments

There is nothing wrong with that UNLESS he signed a non-disclosure agreement with FIRST and promised to keep his mouth shut about the contents of this year's field design and game.

The Regional Directors, who have unprecedented access to the field design this year in order to allow them to build the complete field for the remote kickoff events, are supposed to keep ALL game design information confidential (including all suggestions, clues and hints). The reasons for this are obvious - FIRST doesn't want any special subset of teams to gain access to information that would give them an unfair advantage for the competition.

So it seems we have a conundrum. Maybe things are not at all what they appear to be - is Mr. Wong making up a lot of hints with the specific intent of providing mis-information? Or is mrd_udhs on to something?

-dave

So here's another question. How sever is Rich's NDA with FIRST? (If he has one)

Richard Wong is a judge at the NYC regional, and was our mentor last year. He cannot be affiliated with any teams at this point because of his judgeness. Last month, he told me that first hadnt even finished and finalized the game yet, and the hints that he told me of ideas they were tossing around are totally different then what he is telling this board now. If in fact the game IS finalized, he probably knows it, because they now have to build a field to show at the NYC Kickoff at Polytechnic University. So dont brush off his comments like some crazy man with nothing better to do, he has a plan!

tenkai

PS His english is not 100%, so he may have just made a mistake when the said "is", or he could have meant it... Oh, and he is sworn to secrecy so dont try to pry any more info, his lips and fingers are sealed.

In one of Mr Clancy's books there's a quote something like this "The probability of a secret being revealed is proportionate to the cube of the number of people who know the secret." I find it to be a reasonable approximation. I also know, having worked in the "dark world" on programs that didn't exist, how difficult it is to NOT say anything about something that is supposed to be a secret. Just the fact it is a secret, makes you want to tell, and the more people you know who want to hear it, the more you want to tell it.

So I think Mr. Wong had better cool it a little for a while. Either that or learn how to say "I can neither confirm nor deny..." with a straight face.

I notice that Jason Morrella has been pretty quite lately (no posts since 11/14 and that was on the great Championship Hoax), and so have a few other prominent FIRST people who used to be active here. Though I think Jason has been logged in a time or two when I was.

I would guess that there are some radical changes in the works. Hopefully they will be kept secret better than the Championship location was. Unless they are deliberately leaked to "soften the blow" so people aren't too upset when they find out the rumor is true after all.

BTW anybody heard anything about an advance Bill of Materials for this year?